With G DATA Internet Security, users are well protected against cyber-attacks. This is confirmed by current tests by the two independent test institutes AV-Test and AV-Comparatives. We spoke to Thomas Siebert, Head of Protection Technologies, about the results.

In the most-recent comparative test by the renowned test laboratory AV-TEST, the G DATA CyberDefense solution achieved a great result and was awarded the title of “TOP Product”. In the “Malware Protection Test” for consumer products, AV-Comparatives awarded G DATA the highest possible rating “ADVANCED+”. Both top placings are the result of innovative technologies and the dedicated commitment of IT security experts, as Thomas Siebert of G DATA CyberDefense explained in an interview.

Thomas, congratulations on the very good results. What do the current tests mean for customers of G DATA security solutions?

The top performances of our technologies show that our customers can rely on our products and that we reliably protect them against current and future threats. Especially these days during the corona pandemic, we can see how important reliable protection is. Cyber criminals are shamelessly exploiting the high demand for information about COVID-19 and are increasingly sending Corona-related emails. The emails usually contain attachments with malware or links that lead to contaminated web sites. Overall, we saw almost 30 percent more malware detections in March than in previous months.

What exactly did the two institutes test for?

At the beginning of the year, the independent test laboratory AV-TEST examined 20 security programs. It tested in the categories of protection, usability and speed. G DATA Internet Security was able to deliver a convincing performance across the board and was certified as a “Top Product”. The security solution received the highest score of 6.0 in each of the categories of protection and usability. In the test, the testers used attack methods such as zero-day malware, drive-by attacks, downloads from websites and attacks via contaminated emails. At the same time, the experts from the test laboratory examined the usability of the protection products. The focus was on the question of so-called “false positives”. False warnings during online work and unnecessary blocking of websites can disrupt workflows just as much as malware attacks.

At AV-Comparatives we were one of six manufacturers to receive the highest possible rating “ADVANCED+” in the “Malware Protection Test” for consumer products and had the best detection rates in the entire test field. We protected against all threats with an existing internet connection and achieved the highest offline detection rate among all manufacturers. And this with more than five times fewer false-positive detections compared to the average for the test field.

We can be proud of both results.

How did the results come about?

On one hand, the development of our own technologies such as BEAST and DeepRay pays off when it comes to protection. DeepRay in particular now has a very high proportion of detections in the context of the tests. DeepRay is the result of many years of research and development at G DATA and takes threat detection to a new level. With the help of artificial intelligence, we are one step ahead of cyber criminals because even highly developed malware cannot hide from the new analysis procedure.

We have been using BEAST since last fall. The technology protects in particular against new and previously unknown malware. Unlike conventional behavioral analysis, BEAST records the entire system behavior in a graph and thus provides a holistic view. The technology is based on a self-developed, lightweight graph database that runs locally on the customers’ computers. That way, BEAST detects malicious processes accurately and does not require any user actions.

We have also worked on some components on our own back end systems, which are not visible from the outside and which handle automatic file analysis. This work has also contributed to the results. The improved database is the basis for a large part of the detection in our cloud technologies and our new Engine 2.

The results would not be possible without the tireless work of our various analyst teams to continuously improve our protection performance.

Thomas Siebert

What are you doing to confirm these great results?

We are very pleased with the latest results, but we are also not yet satisfied. After all, malware development is so dynamic that we cannot afford to stand still. And although our latest feature BEAST is already in productive use, we will continue to expand this technology in the coming years. Of course, we are also working continuously on further improvements in the area of performance and the prevention of false positives.